Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (34 page)

Chapter 11

Jules returned but refused to talk to
anyone, and Sarah thought it best to give him some time to cool
down.

When footsteps echoed outside the
door, she held her breath and motioned Frank to keep silent.
Jules’s hand moved to the dagger tied around his waist. She had no
idea what he’d do with it against an entire army, but it was the
thought that counted. At least it indicated that he wasn’t going to
jump at the first opportunity and turn his back on them, leaving
them to their fate.

The thuds stopped in front of the
door, and an eerie silence ensued. Sarah barely dared to peel her
gaze off the entrance to shoot Frank a questioning gaze. His brows
were drawn together, his tense shoulders, and the muscles peering
from under his short sleeves told her he was ready to battle for
his life—and for hers. So was she. She decided that groveling was
fair play; if need be, she’d punch and scream her way out, tugging
at hair and kicking them where it’d hurt the most, hoping their
armor didn’t protect them everywhere.

The door handle moved slowly, and the
sound of old hinges cut through the silence of the chapel. Sarah
clenched her hands and nodded at Frank as the door flew open. The
second it did, she pounced like a cat, ready to claw her way out,
stopping only inches away from the face of an old man with thinning
white hair and a scraggly white beard.

“
Hello, Father,” said Jules
calmly.

The priest hugged Jules in a tight
embrace. “It’s so good to see you, son. Thomas told me you are here
and of the dire situation you are facing.”

“
I would have come myself,
but I got tied up here.” Jules smiled. “These are my friends, Frank
and Sarah.”

“
Greetings,” he said,
smiling. “Welcome, my Queen. My name is Father Haster, and I am the
priest of this sacred house.” He wore a hooded monk’s robe with a
rope-like belt.

She peered behind the man to see
whether it was a bluff, to see if anyone was hiding outside to
ambush them. The cobblestone path seemed deserted, the woods to the
left and right devoid of life.

“
Did you expect someone
else?” The priest looked away as he broke the silence, drawing her
attention to him.

“
It’s our
pleasure to meet you, Father, and we’re actually glad to see you
and not
someone else
,” Frank said, grabbing the old man’s hand in a tight grip
until his knuckles turned white.

“
You’re killing him,” Sarah
whispered.

He threw her a questioning look, so
she pointed at his hand. Frank let go, a smile playing on his lips.
“It’s not my fault I’m built like an ox.”

She smirked. “You got the ox part
right—in smell and brains at least,” she joked. “Father,” she said,
bowing, “it’s an honor to meet you.”

The priest touched her forehead with a
finger as dry as sandpaper and gestured her to straighten. “You
can’t leave until tomorrow, child. There are orders about to
execute you on sight. I’ve never seen King William react this way
to anything or anyone. Sending his troops to kill a defenseless
woman is uncalled for. Jules has filled me in on your problems, and
I am more than happy to offer you sanctuary.”

Of
course, he doesn’t know I made out with Victor,
she presumed. She smirked. “Jules is a very helpful soul…and
so very understanding.”

Jules nodded, not getting the
hint.

“
Yes, he has always been
known to help those in need,” the priest said, “and I’d like to
think he gets that from his priest.”

Sarah eagerly shook his hand. “Well,
truly, Father, it is a pleasure, and thank you for your kindness.”
Then she said dryly, looking embarrassed, “I guess I shouldn’t have
played the part of Princess Gloria. It might’ve earned me an Oscar
in our time, but here, it seems my only reward would be a death
sentence. Can I ask, Father, what would be the means of execution
for someone of my crimes?”

The priest looked away as he
whispered, “Beheading.”

I’ve
been thinking I was losing my head all this time, but
literally?
Sarah let out a breath she
didn’t realize she’d been holding. “I better calm down and keep my
head on straight then.”

Frank wrapped an arm around her waist,
forcing her to face him. “Your life isn’t a joking matter,
Sarah.”

“
Let me deal with it the
way I want,” she hissed. “Remember what I said about controlling
men, Frank.”

“
As you wish.” He shrugged
and let go of her as he turned to the priest, but she could see her
reaction didn’t sit well with him.

That’s
just too bad
, Sarah thought.
I’ve had enough of people telling me what to do
and how to react.
It was time to be herself
and play it all down because pretending no evil would ever befall
her was a better coping strategy than expecting the worst and
letting herself fall into an abyss of worry and
depression.

“
Even if Sarah’s refuses to
acknowledge it,” Frank said, shooting her a sideways glance, “I say
we need to protect ourselves. Do you have any weapons we can use?
Wouldn’t have an Uzi lying around, would ya, Father?”

“
I know not what an Uzi
is,” Jules said, “but weapons in a church?” Jules snorted. “What do
you expect? Crucifixes and holy water?”

“
Well, given that we’re
dealing with Immortals, maybe,” Frank said.

Sarah peered at him, not amused at his
jokes after he’d just scolded her for making her own. “An Uzi,
Frank? Really. Don’t be stupid. Try to think more along the lines
of swords, Jules—or maybe even a dagger.”

“
Did you see their armor?
What do you plan to do with a dagger, sweetheart?” Frank asked.
“Peel them an apple and poison them with it?” His arrogant,
superior attitude was slowly beginning to irritate her.

“
Do you have a better idea?
And I swear, you better not start talking about some Rambo arsenal
again, or I’m going to find the closest dragon and personally feed
you to it.”

The priest held up his hands to stop
their banter, which was becoming a bit more heated than friendly.
“Enough! There’ll be no violence in this house of God.”

“
Sounds good to me,” Sarah
said. “But does the army outside agree too?”

Frank nodded, agreeing with her for a
change. “Yeah. Why don’t you remind the leaders of Tastia and
Dornia about peace and goodwill, because right now, we’re toast. If
you don’t toss in a sword or two, we’ve no way to defend
ourselves.”

The priest shook his head and turned
on his heels, walking out of the room without another glance
back.

Jules chased after him. “Father, do
you need any help?”

Sarah elbowed Frank in the ribs hard.
“Now you did it! You made the priest mad.”

“
What did I do?” Frank
hissed.

“
You know all too well.
Quit pissing everyone off, will ya? We already have a long list of
people fuming at us. We don’t need the clergy on our heels as well.
Think witch hunts and all that.”

“
What?” He snorted and
rubbed a hand over his face, annoyed. “Every soldier out there’s
trying to kill you, and you think I’m just being
paranoid.”

“
Nope. Just irrational and
negative.”

“
I sent Jules out to get
the rest of my bags and take them to my quarters in the back.” The
priest’s voice made her turn around. “And this is for
you.”

Her gaze
fell on the silver heart necklace he held out to her. For a moment,
Sarah could only stare. Her eyes clouded with tears as she lifted a
finger and traced it over the face of the locket. Her hands
trembled while she pried it open it and saw a photo of Liz inside
it—a photo of the two of them standing side by side, together,
happy and healthy as ever.
Why would
anyone in this world have Liz’s belongings? Liz would never give
this away. Unless…
Sarah shook her head
defiantly.
No! It can’t be! Liz has to be
alive and well. She just has to be okay after all we’ve gone
through to find her!

Frank snorted. “What are we supposed
to do with that? Choke them to death or ask for their hand in
marriage?”

“
Shut up, Frank!” Sarah
screamed, casting him a death glare. “I bought this for my sister
the Christmas before she disappeared,” Sarah whispered, her gaze
fixing on the priest. “How did you…where did you get this?” she
asked, almost scared to hear the answer.

The priest inched closer and cupped
her hands. “My child, Jules has brought you here for a reason. He
told me that you are looking for your sister.”

Frank peeked over Sarah’s shoulder at
the picture. “Yes. She went missing ten years ago, and no one knows
what happened to her.”

“
I met a girl by the name
of Elizabeth Larker when she was fifteen,” the priest
said.

Sarah stared at him, for a moment
unable to comprehend why he was avoiding her gaze. Her heart
pounded hard against her ribcage, threatening to jump out of her
throat any minute. “Oh no! Tell me she’s not…” Her voice came thin
and low, so low she wasn’t sure anyone had even heard her. Someone
who wasn’t out to kill her had seen Liz, and she was finally making
progress, but something didn’t feel right. She met Frank’s gaze,
her mouth gaping. “This proves without a shadow of a doubt that she
definitely walked through the portal.”

“
Don’t do that, Sarah,”
Frank said slowly.

“
What? Why?” She met his
dark, brooding eyes and found there what she’d been trying to
control all along: her hope that somehow, Liz was still alive and
well.

“
I don’t want you to be
disappointed, that’s all. I couldn’t bear to see you
hurt.”

He was right, but she couldn’t help
herself—not until someone proved her wrong.

The priest smiled, the thin skin
around his eyes morphing into hundreds of tiny lines. “Elizabeth
does look very much like you indeed, my dear.”

“
I knew she was alive!”
Sarah squeezed his hand, fighting the need to grab him into a hug,
which she was rather certain would not be appropriate. “I never
believed for a moment she was dead. Where is she? When can we go to
her? How do I find her, and—”

“
She was only here for one
year, I’m afraid. During that time, I tried to help her through the
pain of being stuck in this world, but she didn’t adjust well. It
must’ve been a great shock for her. From what she told me, I
gathered your world is very different from ours.”

Tears welled in Sarah’s eyes as
realization kicked in.

“
Babe, I tried to tell
you,” Frank muttered.

“
You said she was here for
a year?” Sarah said, ignoring him. “How long ago was that? And
where did she go when she left?”

The priest scratched his forehead,
thinking. “It’s been a while. I have been out in the mission field
for two years and just recently returned. I’m afraid I don’t know
where she went.”

“
Do you know whether or not
she’s still alive?”

“
I don’t know, but why
shouldn’t she be?”

Sarah shrugged, hysteria bubbling up
inside her. The journey had proven to be nothing but an emotional
rollercoaster. If she continued this way she was bound to develop a
borderline personality disorder, what with all the crying and
laughing and hoping, only to have her hopes dashed an instant
later. “I shouldn’t have left her. How can I ever forgive myself? I
shouldn’t have been so scared of the creature and dumped my own
sister like a sack of potatoes.”

“
You were only a kid
yourself,” Frank said, “a teenager. “A grown man would have been
scared seeing one of those Bigfoots up close and personal. Heck,
even I about crapped my pants, and you know how brave I
am.”

“
She was fifteen,
Frank—lost, scared, and wandering around in a forest with countless
Bigfoots chasing her.” Sarah turned back to the priest. “When was
the last time you heard from her?”

“
Let me think.” The man’s
eyes glazed, deeply buried in his memories.

Sarah appreciated his help, but her
patience was growing thin. She wished she could shake them all out
of him, make him answer faster, because her pangs of hope were
killing her inside, but she couldn’t risk alienating him; he was
her only link to Liz. So she clasped her hands behind her, digging
her nails deeply into her skin until a burning sensation traveled
up her arm.

The priest answered eventually. “She
left when she fell in love with a man. Last I heard she was still
with him, and they are doing splendidly.”

Sarah smiled. Somewhere in the midst
of all that tragedy, Liz had found true love—something Sarah
couldn’t manage to hang on to if her life depended on it. “So she’s
happy.”

The priest nodded. “Very much
so.”

A thought struck her. “When we arrived
in the cave, it was nighttime, but when we walked through the
portal, the sun was out. They’re opposites!”